For Press, swimming has become more than a pastime. He submerges before dawn, going through his routine, often returning for another session during the lunch hour.

Showing visitors around Toyota's corporate fitness center here, he likes to motion toward the pool and say, "This is my job." And being president of Toyota Motor Sales USA? That's "my hobby."

In the hard-nosed car business, swimming isn't the only thing that makes Press an anomaly. He has cultivated some of the habits of his Japanese bosses, talking slowly and choosing his words carefully. He is unfailingly polite in an industry where talk is often fast, loose and profane. His kids, secretary and other co-workers say they've never seen him blow his cool.

Press, 59, doesn't drink — unless you count the Diet Pepsi he was nursing at a Detroit cocktail party this month — or smoke. He's a bit of a loner, close with his family but not many outsiders.

Instead, when he is at the office, he says he tries to show concern for everyone. His management philosophy is what he calls the "servant leader," a hands-off approach in which the goal is to help subordinates as they try to help you.

"I respect the people I work with to the point my job is to help them understand the vision and direction we all want to move," Press says, adding that he then tries to "get out of the way."

He's humble, a trait that's both Japanese and Toyota-like. He frequently stops to chat about basketball with security guard Bobby Patterson, who has gotten to know Press in the past 18 years. Press invited Patterson to join him at his courtside seats for a Los Angeles Lakers game last season. "The Laker girls were right in front of us," Patterson says.

Press' humility hews closely to his small-town upbringing. He was born in Pasadena, Calif., but his family moved to Prairie Village, Kan., when Press was 7. A year later, he built his first go-cart. As a teen, he discovered the world of motoring, encouraged by an uncle who sold cars and an older brother who fixed them. In 1959, Press got his first car, a beat-up 1928 Ford roadster. He was hooked.

"I was in love with cars every second I can remember," says Press, who once was a mechanic.

After graduating from the state college in Pittsburg, Kan., Press landed a job as a management trainee for Ford Motor. When his boss, Max Jamiesson, moved to Toyota in 1970, Press was one of the two subordinates he brought along.

A good fit

Jamiesson, now a Toyota dealer in Salinas, Calif., says he knew Press was destined for automotive stardom. He recalls thinking to himself at the time, "This guy is so good that I will probably (end up) working for him."

Press didn't plan on sticking around at the Japanese automaker. He only wanted to stay long enough to learn the business and become a dealer. Instead, he sensed something different, "the most special opportunity of a lifetime in the car business" at Toyota.

For 14 years, he lived on a 42-foot power boat docked a few miles from Toyota's headquarters. After marrying, he raised two of his four kids on board. Along the way, he did stints in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cincinnati and Japan.

By 1989, Press was ready for another challenge. He took a job in Florida with Toyota's southeast distributor, a separate company. There, he worked for a former Chicago TV personality, Jim Moran, who still admires him. "He was absolutely the best car guy I've ever worked with," Moran says. "He was so ambitious and so energetic."

Moran and Jamiesson both credit Press for his ability to understand Japanese ritual and culture, even if not the language. "He can charm the Japanese," Moran says.

Jamiesson says Press is a good listener. He says impressing the Japanese is "a hell of a lot of psychology and international relations." Press is the first American to serve as president of Toyota's North American sales operations. Jamiesson thinks eventually he will be the first American to become part of Toyota's inner circle of elders.

Toyota's top executive in the USA, Chairman Yukitoshi Funo, thinks Press is a great communicator. But Funo doesn't see Press as being any better with the Japanese than he is with anyone else.

"He has a special talent to see things from the perspective of the person he is dealing with," Funo says.

Funo also says that Press has come to "understand the global agenda of Toyota more clearly."

For his part, Press talks about Toyota reverentially. "Each of us has a home base in our minds. Some people search for it and never find it. I found it at Toyota."

He's certainly embraced the Japanese work ethic. He arrives at Toyota's Torrance campus before dawn and often doesn't leave until 8 p.m.

"He's here when I get here and he's here when I leave," says his secretary, Rachel Rivera. In bed by 11 p.m., Press thrives on five hours of sleep a night. He often works weekends, too.

Relaxing in the pool

Swimming helps relieve the pressure of the job and fits in with Toyota's mantra of continuous improvement.

Sometimes, he will go straight to Toyota's four-lane, 25-meter pool after returning from a trip to Japan. His daily routine has given him the tanned, upper-body physique of a twentysomething. To see him walking around in a business suit, you'd never know it: He walks with a slight stoop. He likes to think it's because of the strong swimming muscles he's developed in his upper back, but allows it might just be "my own bad posture."

Taking part in master's classes, he swims competitively and competes in triathlons. The swimming coach at Toyota headquarters, Rachel Dong, calls him "very committed. ... He is always looking for ways to improve himself." Plus, he's good about listening to the coach.

Still, his main motivation is relaxation. Press considers swimming a way "to cool off and put things back in perspective," says his son Chris, 22, who picked up the swimming bug himself.

When he's not swimming or working, Press not only hangs out with family but also engages in high-energy activities such as motorcycling, flying — he has a commercial pilot's license but doesn't own a plane — and boating. He still has a boat, Eagle, but the family has long since moved to a landlubber's paradise in Rolling Hills, Calif.

Press never lets up. Daughter Elizabeth, 16, says even on weekends, "He'll get up early and go work out ... or go to the beach. He pulls us out of bed."

Naturally, the home has a big swimming pool.

In the pool, "I will think about doing strokes. Every time I take a stroke, I think about where my hand is," Press says.